NYT: Hannity’s going solo; Fox News: Not necessarily

posted at 2:44 pm on November 25, 2008 by Allahpundit

The Times cites two sources “close to the network” but FNC exec Bill Shine claims they’re blowing smoke. Another unnamed exec tells TV Newser in an update:

A Fox News insider with direct knowledge of the situation questions the motive of the New York Times sources, but tells TVNewser, “Roger [Ailes] is brilliant and he realizes Hannity cannot carry the show alone for an hour like O’Reilly. If we were to even go in this direction, one of the possibilities would have to include surrounding Sean with packages and panels with diverse personalities.”

Colmes supposedly started talking about leaving around Labor Day, weeks before Hannity signed a new four-year contract. If, as the Times says, the plan is to go solo, wouldn’t/shouldn’t that have been settled last month before the two sides locked into a long-term deal? If it was, why the delay now in announcing it and why the murmurings from “insiders” about how they haven’t settled on a format? It’s bizarre to me that the threshold question of whether to give him his own show might have been kicked down the road for resolution after the agreement was signed, but here we are — which means Fox almost certainly did want to consider its options on co-hosts. Maybe they’ve since decided to let him go solo after all, but again, in that case, why not announce now?

All of which is to say that Shine’s probably telling the truth. Hannity’s website is monitoring the TV Newser poll I was pushing yesterday, and it’s a testament to KP’s appeal that not only is she still way ahead there notwithstanding the influx of true blue Hannity fans spamming it for him to go solo, but even the prospect of a nightly death match with Carville wasn’t enough to dent her lead in our own HA poll. HuffPo digs her, too, which I guess makes her the Hillary of FNC — a nominee whom both righties and lefties can agree on. If you like the idea of an hour of Maddow being political junkies’ only alternative to an hour of Hannity (or Hannity & Beckel) at nine p.m., fair enough; if not, now would be a good time to vote again for our favorite liberal. As I say, it’s — hopefully — not too late.

That said, there is one candidate I’ll happily accept in lieu of her. Exit question: Is the FNC insider right that Hannity can’t carry a show for an hour the way O’Reilly does? Intuitively I think he’s right, but after 20 minutes of trying I can’t articulate why. It’s not like O’R’s opinions and lines of questioning are wildly unpredictable, and if anything, he’s more prone to reducing interviews to shouting matches. Besides, Hannity does gangbusters business solo on the radio, much more so than O’Reilly himself does. So why does an hour of the Factor work whereas an hour of Sean feels not quite right? Is it just because we’re used to watching him with a partner?

Sorry, but without Colmes, there wouldn’t have been a Hannity–and vice versa. The whole point of the show is to give differing views and playing off each other. An hour of just Hannity is a bit pointless.

I can’t sit through a whole show as it is, so I don’t really give a crap. I’d rather see Cavuto or Brit Hume in that slot. The H&C circus seems to be the same thing every night. It’s tiresome.

That said, there is one candidate I’ll happily accept in lieu of her. Exit question: Is the FNC insider right that Hannity can’t carry a show for an hour the way O’Reilly does? Intuitively I think he’s right, but after 20 minutes of trying I can’t articulate why. It’s not like O’R’s opinions and lines of questioning are wildly unpredictable, and if anything, he’s more prone to reducing interviews to shouting matches. Besides, Hannity does gangbusters business solo on the radio, much more so than O’Reilly himself does. So why does an hour of the Factor work whereas an hour of Sean feels not quite right? Is it just because we’re used to watching him with a partner?

Bill O works better on television than Sean Hannity because he has more of a personality. (Granted it’s a personality that some absolutely despise.) It makes for good television. Hannity works better for talk radio because he’s more right wing than O’Reilly. It seems like conservatives want their opinions validated by their radio talk show hosts and not questioned like O’Reilly sometimes does.

I think he needs a co-host. He already has a solo show. I like Hannity, but honestly, after a while he gets tiring because he repeats himself so much and manipulates his interviews. I’d rather they keep the “Crossfire” format.

Exit question: Is the FNC insider right that Hannity can’t carry a show for an hour the way O’Reilly does? Intuitively I think he’s right, but after 20 minutes of trying I can’t articulate why. It’s not like O’R’s opinions and lines of questioning are wildly unpredictable, and if anything, he’s more prone to reducing interviews to shouting matches.

The bottom line is that Hannity is not bright enough to carry a show like that. All he can do is repeat talking points and yell at people. O’Reilly can be a goober, but you can’t accuse him of parroting talking points (except, perhaps, his own). O’Reilly is also more neutral than Hannity — he’s been known to take Republicans behind the woodshed, not just Democrats.

The other issue is that if you take Colmes off the show, they’ll never be able to book Democratic guests. Our Glorious Leader has repeatedly singled Hannity out as an example of “unfair” criticism from the media, which basically serves as an instruction to Democrats to boycott that program. The presence of a liberal on the show blunts the boycott problem to a great degree.

And given that the GOP is wholly irrelevant in Washington for the next two years, and quite possibly the next four, eight, or twelve years, Fox News needs to have Democratic guests on in prime time to remain relevant. The Sean Hannity Hour will not go well if it’s just Hannity and Dick “The Toe” Morris ranting about Hillary Clinton.

O’Reilly’s a fool and a blowhard. Personally, I can’t understand how he manages to do so well in the ratings, but when I look at what tends to do well in the ratings game in all forms of entertainment, it makes a little more sense.

Anyway, I think it’s better for everyone if Hannity has a foil. Otherwise, it would come across as Conservative propaganda and lose credibility for the show and the network (see Olbermann at MSNBC for an example).

It seems Powers has been groomed for this sort of role, over the past couple of years. She’s a fresh enough face, and is one of Fox’s go-to liberal panelists. Like Colmes, she’s not going to be enough of a heavyweight to really challenge Hannity, but at least the other side of the argument will be presented.

The segment nature of TV would keep him more in line, but Hannity’s personality is better suited for radio, because it’s more conversational than O’Reilly, who pretty much lets his ego do the talking and any attempts at coming off humble are mainly played for laughs (O’Reilly knows he’s right about everything and the audience knows he thinks he’s right about everything, so both he and we know his “aw shucks” moments are just a put-on).

Hannity isn’t as good at the conversational style as Limabugh is, because he tends to have the same problem Phil Rizzuto used to have calling Yankees baseball games — Sean goes spinning off onto tangents about things unrelated to the actual topic at hand on his radio show, which can either be lovable or annoying, depending on how much you’re interested in actually hearing about the topic he’s supposed to be talking about. But his style is still better suited for radio than O’Reilly’s is, and his style on a solo show is much better for radio than it is for television.

Having a liberal co-host and guests from both sides on the Fox show forces Hannity to stay more focused on the issue at hand. Take that away, and the TV show at 9 p.m. Eastern he could eventually end up resembling the most isn’t Rachel Maddow but Larry King.

Is the FNC insider right that Hannity can’t carry a show for an hour the way O’Reilly does? Intuitively I think he’s right, but after 20 minutes of trying I can’t articulate why.

O’Reilly has a more combative style, and I think people like that. Hannity tends to be a broken record, but he doesn’t really get into it the way Bill does. Plus, you pretty much know where Sean is going to stand on the issues…an hour of just him reciting that would make for boring TV, I would think.

Colmes always liked to pretend he was winning a debate by tossing out some idiotic comment and then immediately changing the subject without letting anyone respond to the comment. It is a lame, weak tactic that the left uses to mask ignorance. I hope that whoever the cohost may be, he/she is able to carry on a semi-intelligent conversation.

The bottom line is that Hannity is not bright enough to carry a show like that. All he can do is repeat talking points and yell at people. O’Reilly can be a goober, but you can’t accuse him of parroting talking points (except, perhaps, his own). O’Reilly is also more neutral than Hannity — he’s been known to take Republicans behind the woodshed, not just Democrats.

Outlander on November 25, 2008 at 3:10 PM

That’s just about four different kinds of stupid. Of course Hannity can carry a show for an hour- he already does it with Hannity’s America not to mention the three hours a day he’s on talk radio. What you admire in O’Reilly, a worthless blowhard, is the fact that he’s a flaming liberal which apparently reads as neutral in your world.

The one valid point you make is that the “Rats” fear FNC and need the reassurance of puffball interview questions from hacks like Colmes before they agree to go on air. Alan never disappointed asking the most inane questions of individuals who would only go on air with him. In reality, Alan Colmes is the Larry King of the FNC.

I don’t think anyone’s mentioned him as a possible replacement and I hope he’s not in the running: Ellis Hennigan. I couldn’t listen to his grating voice- the only voice worse than his is Susan Estrich’s. Voice lessons did help her for a while along with the “refreshed” face & lightened hair; all made for a softer image… for a week or two.

Hannity needs someone not so hateful as Skeletor to balance him. What about Wolfson? He’s been on the FNC payroll since Hillary dumped him.

I agree. Hannity already has one of his own shows and I think Hannity absolutely NEEDS a foil.

We need someone to read the daily talking points from the Obama Administration, the way Alan did during the campaign. And then have Dick Morris/Karl Rove/Jeri Thompson shove it down their throat. Think of it in that frame. I don’t know who does it as well as Colmes does.

Arianna USED to be married to Mike Huffington, REPUBLICAN candidate for Senate against Dianne Feinstein in 1994. They divorced in 1997 after he confessed he was gay. She used to be a right wing fanatic who spoke at Christian conferences and advocated the abolishment of welfare to be replaced by voluntary tithes. Now she hates Christians, which is obvious to anyone who can stand to read what she writes.

Pretty much, Arianna is a whore and a golddigger. She’s extreme either way, but her side of the aisle depends on who she’s sleeping with and who can help her get her face on book covers and TV.

??? You mean KP lies her brains out about anything and everything for no apparent reason? You mean KP is so power-mad she wants to become president of FoxNews and have total control? You mean KP is such an arrogant boob she thinks can pull any kind of phony, dishonest BS and the hoi polloi will eat it up and crown her Queen of the Universe?

Hannity fills the air with to many words and not enough substance. I say this even though i agree with him on issues.
It is just a speaking style that irks me like he has to stay on message. Like going through the Laundry list of associations obama had. After about the 30th time in one hour it grates on you.
He should bring it up often just not every 5 minutes and before every single question.
For how to do this correctly see Mark levin.

O’reily problem is that he has a guest and then he take 4 minutes to as a question(which is just him stating his opinion) then he lets the other person talk 20 seconds and he interrupts.
This could be on the econmoics or politics or anything.
I prefer Ingraham in that slot

I don’t think anyone’s mentioned him as a possible replacement and I hope he’s not in the running: Ellis Hennigan. I couldn’t listen to his grating voice- the only voice worse than his is Susan Estrich’s. Voice lessons did help her for a while along with the “refreshed” face & lightened hair; all made for a softer image… for a week or two.

NightmareOnKStreet on November 25, 2008 at 3:20 PM

This is Henican’s best use of his voice (though to be fair he does OK as a liberal guest on “Red Eye”, where Colmes and his sister-in-law will be appearing tonight).

Remember when Obamas Press secretary Robert Gibbs was on Hannity & Colmes after the debate and Gibbs called Hannity an anti-semite and held up some piece of paper as proof of it? I wished Hannity had punched him in the face. I hate that Gibbs guy. The look on his face instantly infuriates me. So with that, I wished it would be:

I appreciate how Hannity manages to relate every question in the universe to Bill Ayers. Seriously.

lodge on November 25, 2008 at 4:30 PM

Yeah, it goes like this:

Sean Hannity: Thank you for being with us Dick Morris, segment is about the bailout, so do you think the 7 Trillion dollars being used for the bailout should be distributed by the friend of an Unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers?

Dick Morris: I don’t Sean. The economic melt down is…..

Sean Hannity: I know Dick, but the economic crisis shouldn’t be handled by a man who sat on a board with a man who blew up the pentagon, a NY police station…..

..”[Ailes] is brilliant and he realizes Hannity cannot carry the show alone for an hour like O’Reilly.”
Yea, Roger is brilliant; O’Reilly’s show sucks unless Laura is filling in for him. I don’t like tabloid thugs shaking their pudgey fingers at me and trying to come off as witty.
Alright already I’ll agree with my husband and probably AP: KP would be perfect. I hardly watch the show anymore anyway.
One thing i do know: I won’t miss hatchet-face Colmes, at all.

On another note, in a recent article of hers linked on this site, I read how very, VERY upset she was when Clinton didn’t lift the ban on gays in the military. What good news, obviously Kirsten is eager to sleep and shower with heterosexual males she doesn’t get to choose! Where should I put my bags, Kirsten? Glad to wash your back if you need it. Hey–if she wants to force service personnel to accept gays in the squadbay, she should be forced to have hetero males (maybe a few lesbians as well) share her living, sleeping, and hygiene accomodations. I’m raising my hand to volunteer….